Wrist sprung glove



March 14, 1944. u r

WRIST SPRUNG' GLOVE Filed Oct. 23, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Mai/282% lfil /yeff K. L. BURGETT WRIST SPRUNG GLOVE Filed Oct. 23, 1940 March 14, 1944;

' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 cfizuaz/ow fizz/262% J. a ry e2? Patented Mar. 14, 1944 UNITED STATES t h'ilfiN'i ()FFICE WRIST SPRUN G GLOVE Kenneth L. Burgett, Peoria, Ill.

Application October 23, 1940, Serial No. 362,352

1 Claim.

This invention relates to gloves and while not limited thereto, it is' particularly applicable to a golfers glove.

Before discussing the: details of the structure of the glove disclosed herein, it should be explained that unusual problems are encountered in the design of a glove suitable for golfers by reason of the characteristics of the game. For example, it will be appreciated that while a glove must be securely held in position on the players hand, yet the player must have absolute freedom of muscular action of the wrist so that the glove will not offer the slightest interference with the stroke of the club. In addition, it may be pointed out that golf gloves now offered on the market have a thumb orifice and fingers which are of short length and opened at the outer ends so that players thumb and fingers of the glove-protected hand are not covered by the glove and may directly engage the hand grip of the club to enable the player to exercise full control over the swinging of the club, but yet protecting the palm of the hand and the base of the fingers.

Further, golf gloves are often provided with an open back, which adds to the comfort of the player, but which precludes the possibility of the glove securing itself to the hand and requires additional means to hold the glove in position. In the prior art it has been customary to provide a strap and buckle extending around the players wrist, but this has been found to be highly unsatisfactory since when the wrist, is flexed, as when the player raises the club to strike the ball, the strap has a tendency to tighten about the wrist and hinder the player in the execution of the stroke.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a golf glove including means to hoi the glove securely to the players hand and yet permit unrestricted muscular action of the wrist.

A further object, of the invention is to provide a golf glove having an open, elliptical, resilient, expansible closure band adapted to fit the wrist of the wearer and secure the glove in posi tion on the hand.

Another object of the invention is to provide a glove with a wristband comprising an inner layer and an outer layer superimposed thereon.

and stitched thereto to define a pocket of relatively narrow width extending the entire length of the wristband and having a thin metal strap secured in the pocket to urge the wristband of the glove into resilient engagement with the wrist of the wearer.

ill

These and other objects are accomplished by a glove constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention and illustrated in the drawings attached hereto in which:

Fig. 1. is a rear view of a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrating the glove in position on the wearers hand with the wrist straight and fingers extended;

Figure 2 is a rear view of the glove illustrated in Fig. 1, and showing the action of the closure band when the hand of the wearer is closed and the wrist flexed;

Figure 3 is a detail sectionalview of the resilient wristband of the glove illustrated in Fig.1, and is taken substantially on the plane of the line 3-3 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a flexible metal spring as it appears when removed from the wristband of the glove; and

Fig. 5 is a front view of a modified embodiment of the invention as applied to a conventional ladys glove.

The golf glove illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 comprises a palm section H], which is preferably provided with an orifice H to accommodate the thumb of the wearer. The palm section Ill is preferably formed of an unbroken seamless piece of leather or fabric divided into four sections adjacent the base of the fingers to provide finger portions l2, l3, l4 and l5. It will be understood that the finger portions l2, I 3, l4 and 15 are completed by the back section H) of the glove, which is also divided adjacent the base of the fingers and joined to the portions l2, [3, I4 and l5 by side finger surfaces (not shown) and by the stitching IT. The back section lb of the glove may cover the entire back of the hand if desired, but in a golf glove it is preferable to terminate this section It adjacent the knuckles of the fingers to provide a glove having a completely opened back preferably bound by a rolled edge l8 extending across the back of the glove adjacent the knuckles of the wearer and extending back on each side of the wristband l9.

In the present invention the wrist band l9 includes an outer layer 2! superimposed over an inner layer 22 to form a pocket in which a flat leaf spring 23 may be inserted. It will be understood, of course, that the layers 2! and 22 are joined at the rear edge by the stitching 24 and at the forward edge by the stitching 25. The stitching 25 also penetrates the marginal edge of the bottom section if] of the glove in order to secure the wrist band l9 to the body of the glove.

From an examination of Fig. 1, it will be seen that the lines of stitching 24 and 25 are joined at each end of the wrist band to close the ends of the pocket and retain the spring 23 in position.

From an examination of Fig. 4, it will be seen that the spring 23 comprises a relatively thin metal strip of flat cross-section and of more or less elliptical configuration adapted to fit snugly around the wrist of the wearer and secure the glove in position on the hand. If desired, the ends 26 and 21 of the spring 23 may be rounded or bent slightly outwardly to prevent the extreme ends of the spring from coming into contacting engagement with the back of the players wrist. From the foregoing it should be apparent that the closure spring 23 positioned in the pocket of the wrist band I!) provides a resilient expandible closure band which is open at the rear of the glove and which may expand and contract in accordance with the muscular action of the wrist. In this connection it will be noted that when the wrist is straight and fingers extended, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the natural resiliency of the spring 23 will draw the ends of the wrist band l9 together until they are separated by the distance represented at A in Fig. 1. When the hand is closed and the wrist flexed, however, the muscular action will cause the wrist of the wearer to expand, as illustrated in Fig. 2, and the resilient properties of the spring 23 will then permit the wrist band l9 to follow this expansion until the ends of the wrist band are separated the distance B indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. This yieldable expansion of the wrist band will permit absolute freedom of muscular action of the player's wrist and will, of course, permit easy and instantaneous removal of the glove, since the spring 23 is sufliciently flexible to allow the wrist band to be removed from the wrist of the wearer.

In the modification of the invention illustrated in Fig. 5, a conventional glove 3| having an elongated opening 32 in the bottom is provided with a resilient wrist band 33 identical with the wrist band I9, with the single exception that the band 33 is open on the front instead of the rear face of the glove. The action of the band is identical, however, since the resilient properties of the band 33 permit this band to expand and contract as the wrist muscles of the wearer are flexed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

A golfers glove comprised of an unbroken palm section having finger extensions at one end and side portions extended upwardly toward the back of the hand, a back portion having an opening extended substantially from the wearers knuckles to the wrist and across the back of the hand, and an open flat metal band attached at the wrist end of the palm section, with the ends of the metal band being substantially spaced apart at the back of the wearer's hand, the length of said palm section being such that said metal band is positioned to provide for a free movement of the wrist, said band on closing of the wearers hand being spread open to stretch said palm section across the wearers palm and prevent wrinkling thereof within the closed hand.

KENNETH L. BURGETT. 

